SUMATEAN HIGHLANDS. 85 



cLasm visited by Yeth. and Ya-u Hasselt, and by them described as developing a 

 vast circumference and several hundred yards deep. 



Like the Padang volcanoes, this majestic mountain has also its little lacustrine 

 system in the valleys excavated at its base. Here rises a torrent, which after 

 skirting the east slope of the volcanic chain falls into the danau or "sea" of 

 Korintji, whence an emissary escapes towards the river Jambi. Farther south 

 follow other volcanoes disposed in a line with the general axis of the island, but 

 for the most part extinct. Kaba and Dempo, however, are still the theatre of 

 frequent and violent convulsions. Kaba (5,500 feet), which is visible thirty 

 miles to the north-east of Benkulen, towering above the Suikerbrood (" Sugar- 

 loaf"), terminates in two craters, one inaccessible, and both rent by crevasse,^, whence 

 issue jets of vapour. In 1875 Kaba entered on a period of activity, the eruptions 

 lasting three years, and covering the surrounding hills and vallej^s with sand mixed 

 with chemical substances fatal to plants and animals alike. Even now, whenever 

 the sandy banks of the neighbouring streams give way the fish die in thousands. 



Dempo (10,560 feet), which rises some sixty miles to the south-east of 

 Benkulen, is also the scene of constant disturbances. But Sawah, one of the old 

 craters, no longer bursts into flames, so that the natives are able to approach 

 without danger and offer their sacrifices in the midst of the heaths and rhododen- 

 drons. The new crater, named Merapi like the great Padang volcano, stands 830 

 feet higher up, and is the abode of the dera for whom the offerings are intended. 

 Some sixty feet below the circular rim is seen a lakelet sparkling like a sheet of 

 quicksilver ; presently a black speck in the centre of the glittering surface begins 

 to expand and assume the form of a funnel, in which the water suddenly dis- 

 appears. In a few minutes the rocks resound as with the rumbling of thunder ; 

 the din grows nearer, followed by a flash as of lightning, and the water, trans- 

 formed to vapour, issues in a dense jet from the crater, into which it again soon 

 subsides. Thus every fifteen or twenty minutes the lake vanishes and reappears 

 in the form of a magnificent geyser some hundred feet high. 



Farther south another ranau* or " sea," floods an elevated cirque (1,720 feet), 

 which seems to have been an old crater, and which is encircled on three sides by 

 extinct volcanoes. It is extremely deep in the centre, and in one place thermal 

 springs from the neighbouring Mount Siminung raise the temperature too high 

 for animal life. 



Southwards the Barisan system again bifurcates, one branch continuing in the 

 normal direction south-eastwards to Cape Tjina (China), where it merges in low 

 hills over against Princes Island and the south-west extremity of Java. The 

 other or volcanic branch trends more to the east, where it is indicated from afar 

 by the lofty summits of Mounts Besagi, Sekinjau, Tebah, and Tangkamus (7,520 

 feet). This last, better known as the Keizers Pick, or "Emperor's Peak," rises 

 near the southern extremity of Sumatra, on the Bay of Samangka, and is probably 

 connected by a submarine fault with the islet of Tabuan. On the mainland the vol- 



* Ranau, danau, tao are various dialectic forms of the same word, meaning «e?«, or any large expanse of 

 water. 



